


Alistair vs. Leolin-final round

by Starla-Nell (Princess_Nell)



Series: The Bournshire Boys [22]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Fistfight, background bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24970246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Nell/pseuds/Starla-Nell
Summary: Alistair is out-of-sorts. Leolin pushes too far and Alistair gets into real trouble, this time.
Series: The Bournshire Boys [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/472279
Kudos: 1





	Alistair vs. Leolin-final round

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know what Leolin said or did this time, but it was no doubt pretty minor. They've hated each other longer than Alistair's known Cullen, so when Alistair figured out he's not actually friends with Cullen (which would have been news to Cullen), Alistair lost his shit a little too easily. Again, no plot to speak of just a further exploration of the ways Alistair and Cullen had such different experiences in school.

Cullen woke suddenly to the bells announcing morning Chant. What was happening? He hadn’t slept this late since he got here. Usually, Alistair would clamber out to get breakfast. Cullen glanced over to Alistair’s bed. Empty. So he’d gone ahead. Cullen pulled on his uniform and ran to Chant.

It was lunch when Cullen was finally able to breathe—and eat. Alistair had been in class, but they hadn’t said two words to each other. As Cullen searched for a seat, he thought he saw Alistair, leaving towards the practice ground. Was Alistair avoiding him? 

\---

Cullen left the dining hall with his friends, laughing at something Sieffre had said. It had rained, so they had to watch their step. Cullen heard the smack of fist-hitting-flesh and looked up. There was a small crowd in the courtyard, where normally there would be clusters of several boys talking, sparring, or playing chess.

Ser Clancy’s voice rang out, “Enough! He’s done.” Between the people, he saw the flash of Ser Clancy’s armor and, to the left a bit, Sister Moyra’s flame-colored robe pushing through the crowd, apparently with sheer force of personality.

As she approached, Sister Moyra asked the question Cullen had been about to. “What is going on here?”

Cullen felt a flash of horror as he recognized Alistair’s angry voice: “You know what? I’m sick of this burned place! I hate it here!” Cullen pressed forward, until he could see Alistair, standing over a very still Leolin, Ser Clancy between them. Leolin’s friends appeared from the crowd. He was moving again, but he didn’t look focused yet, and a nasty bruise was starting to spread under his eye, two shades darker than the one on Alistair’s jaw. “The Fade take you _and_ your family!” Cullen tried to go to Alistair, calm him down, but things were happening too fast. Sister Moyra was close enough now to lay a hand on Alistair’s sleeve, but he shook her off. “I know my way to her _Reverence’s_ office!” Then he stomped off in the correct direction, away from where Cullen was. Sister Moyra followed.

Leolin’s friends were helping him to his feet, but one called after Alistair, “You’ll pay for this!”

Ser Clancy spun on them. “You are not being helpful. Get him to the infirmary.” Leolin’s gang scuttled off at his glower.

“The rest of you,” Ser Clancy snapped. “Show’s over. Time to get to class.” Several kids blinked. The bell for class hadn’t rung yet. “Now.” Reluctantly, the various young brothers and recruits wandered off, presumably in the direction of their classes, but more likely to find niches in which to compare perspectives on the fight and who started it and why.

Ser Clancy was their swordplay instructor. Cullen approached him. “Ser Clancy, I’d like to help my friend.” Cullen nodded in the direction Alistair had taken.

Ser Clancy glanced that way. “Unfortunately, all I can suggest is a trip to the Chantry to light a candle on his behalf. He’s dug himself in pretty deep. Had to pull Alistair off while Leolin was out cold. He might be removed from Chantry protection altogether.” Ser Clancy turned back to Cullen.

“That’s not right,” Cullen said through grit teeth. “Leolin has been pushing him around for a long time. Probably longer than I’ve been here. Whatever happened may have been the last straw for Alistair.”

Ser Clancy seemed to consider this. “In that case, when you get done at the Chantry, round up anyone who has seen Leolin in action. That would definitely help Alistair’s case. I’ll have a little chat with Leolin. Know where I should start?”

“In the incident I saw,” Cullen said, “he called him a bastard. And ‘Alice.’”

“Not very creative, is he? Alright. Thanks. I’ll see what I can do. It would be a shame to lose a recruit with his talent.”

As Cullen watched Ser Clancy head to the infirmary, he remembered Alistair shouting, ‘I’m sick of this burned place,’ and wondered if he’d actually done his roommate any favors.

\---

“Sister Moyra,” said the Reverend Mother, “it was only a scuffle. We have eyewitness testimony that this was an animnity years in the making.”

“His friends are _covering_ for him, nothing more. Perhaps Leolin provoked a scuffle, but Alistair took it too far. He is not fit to be a templar. He would never take his Duty seriously.” The Reverend Mother can hear the capitalized D, a reminder that Sister Moyra knows the key secret to making true templars. Well, _a_ key secret. “Alistair simply doesn’t have the compatibility. He’s a disruptive influence. He may even spoil others’ chances for success!”

“Nonsense,” Mother Adeen said patiently. “Any templar must be able to withstand disruption. It’s what you’ve trained them for.”

But Sister Moyra was not to be deterred. “We’ve removed initiates from the school for _less_ ,” she bit out.

“The tuition for those initiates was a burden to their families.” Mother Adeen sighed. “I assure you, that is not the case here.”

Sister Moyra scoffed. “The bastard son? What means could he possibly have?”

“The tuition has been paid every year, along with a generous donation to the Chantry.” The Reverend Mother had been keeping this from Sister Moyra for too long, anyway. If she was to rise in the ranks, she must understand these things. “In addition, Lady Isolde made it quite clear that the family’s donations would be discontinued, should we endanger the family’s faith that we could use them wisely.”

Sister Moyra recovered quickly, to her credit, snapping her mouth shut and standing straight again. “So, the arlessa bribed the Chantry to take her husband’s bastard away.”

“Bribe is such a strong word,” the Reverend Mother replied. “But you can see that it’s out of my hands.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leolin is pretty much fine once he heals up, but he doesn't bother Alistair after this. That's not to condone what Alistair did, but it was honest vengeance.


End file.
